03/30/2012

Current was also founded on the values of respect, openness, collegiality, and loyalty to our viewers. Unfortunately these values are no longer reflected in our relationship with Keith Olbermann and we have ended it. We are moving ahead by honoring Current's values. Current has a fundamental obligation to deliver news programming with a progressive perspective that our viewers can count on being available daily -- especially now, during the presidential election campaign. Current exists because our audience desires the kind of perspective, insight and commentary that is not easily found elsewhere in this time of big media consolidation.

I'd like to apologize to my viewers and my staff for the failure of Current TV. Editorially, Countdown had never been better. But for more than a year I have been imploring Al Gore and Joel Hyatt to resolve our issues internally, while I've been not publicizing my complaints, and keeping the show alive for the sake of its loyal viewers and even more loyal staff. Nevertheless, Mr. Gore and Mr. Hyatt, instead of abiding by their promises and obligations and investing in a quality news program, finally thought it was more economical to try to get out of my contract.

It goes almost without saying that the claims against me implied in Current's statement are untrue and will be proved so in the legal actions I will be filing against them presently. To understand Mr. Hyatt’s “values of respect, openness, collegiality and loyalty,” I encourage you to read of a previous occasion Mr. Hyatt found himself in court for having unjustly fired an employee. That employee’s name was Clarence B. Cain. http://nyti.ms/HueZsa

In due course, the truth of the ethics of Mr. Gore and Mr. Hyatt will come out. For now, it is important only to again acknowledge that joining them was a sincere and well-intentioned gesture on my part, but in retrospect a foolish one. That lack of judgment is mine and mine alone, and I apologize again for it.

NOM Starbucks boycott is a big FAIL: "'We're not seeing any impact,' says Starbucks spokesman Zack Hutson. If anything, NOM's attack has endeared Starbucks to the public and sends a message to Fortune 500 companies that defending gay rights is safe political ground."

Six boys in Phillippines barred from graduation for simulating kisses in posting them to Facebook. "The photos, for the officials, were 'damaging' to the reputation of the Catholic institution. But one of the students said it was only a camera trick and done for fun’s sake. 'We tried to explain that those were just camera tricks, but they did not listen to us,' one of the students said."

NYC LGBT students visit DC Comics: "A group of students and chaperones from the Hetrick-Martin Institute, home of the Harvey Milk High School for LGBTQ students in New York, came for a tour of the DC Comics' New York office as part of a "Break Out Day" event organized by the various LGBTQ organizations in each department of Time Warner. The students started with breakfast, sharing their stories and hearing about the positive experiences from some of DC's diverse staff."

Mother of gay son rips Rick Santorum over pink bowling ball remarks: "Our sons should grow up to be strong and caring men. Our daughters should grow up to be strong and caring women. A gay man is not less of a man. A straight man that likes pink is not less of a man."

L.A. entertainment hotspot The Ivy sued for HIV discrimination: "Martinez, who worked for The Ivy for five months, claims he was fired after testing HIV-positive and asking for accommodation due to the adverse side effects of his new antiretroviral medications."

Trail set for two Long Beach men charged with Halloween hate crime in Long Beach: "Defendants Marquise Anton Lucas, 19, and Sierus Lamar Dunbar, 27, are each charged in the attack, which took place at about 8:15 p.m. near Fourth Street and Cherry Avenue, just west of The Gay and Lesbian Center of Greater Long Beach. Witnesses said the two victims, one of whom is 52 years old and the other who in his 60s, were assaulted after they left the Center and after walking past Lucas and Dunbar, who yelled out a derogatory name for gays."

While neither the donation nor Romney's opposition to same-sex marriage were a secret, the precise way in which he contributed to NOM remained under tight wraps until Friday...

...when Romney eventually made his donation, he did so quietly, and through an unusual channel. Records filed by Romney's Free and Strong America PAC with the Federal Election Commission did not include details of that $10,000 donation. Nor did NOM's public 990 form. In fact, record of the payment was only uncovered Friday when the pro-gay rights Human Rights Campaign was sent a private IRS filing from NOM via a whistleblower...

...Asked for comment, an aide to Romney said that the donation was made through the Alabama chapter of the Free and Strong America PAC. State records confirm this. However, the 990 NOM filed lists the donation as having come from PO Box 79226 in Belmont, Massachusetts.

HRC's Fred Sainz writes, in an email sent out today:

It’s becoming increasingly clear that Governor Romney was a major financial donor to Prop. 8. It’s also increasingly clear that his financial disclosure to the effort is nonexistent.

The contribution to NOM was made by an obscure PAC in Alabama belonging to Governor Romney called “Free and Strong America PAC – Alabama” but never reported as part of any effort related to Prop, 8. In an October 28, 2008 article in Utah’s Deseret News, Romney’s spokesperson takes credit for a contribution to Prop. 8 but there’s no disclosure of a contribution to the effort. He instead chose to give to NOM, a 501 (c)4 that is not required to disclose its donors. For what other purpose would you contribute $10,000 to NOM three weeks before the election other than Prop 8? If Romney’s spokesperson is accurate, then both Romney’s PAC and NOM violated California disclosure laws.

...what did Mitt Romney know, and when did he know it? To be fair, Romney's 2008 donation predates the materials that have been made public. But his relationship, and that of his Church -- a major donor to NOM -- continues. And it stands to reason that there were 2008 versions of this strategy memo, as well as 2010, 2011, and 2012 versions. The mind shudders to imagine what is in the ones we haven't seen.

When Mitt Romney cut his $10,000 check for Maggie Gallagher and Brian Brown's National Organization for Marriage, did he know that his money would be used to "drive a wedge between gays and blacks -- two key Democratic constituencies"? Did he know it would be going toward fanning hostility between his fellow Americans?